second batch

Okay, better late than never, another brew went on the go on 3rd Nov 2010. Blueberry Coopers real ale this time and the bottles are steralised and at the ready. The main thing I've taken from reading about home brewing is the major emphasis on steralisation. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that will come into contact with the brew needs a saline soak/wash. I don't want to spend a month putting in so much effort only for my brew to smell like mould, salt is now my friend. My first batch of Coopers raspberry pale ale is now bottled and stored close to the hot water cylinder. I had a hiccup along the way as the bottles that were sourced from Sth Hobart tip needed larger bottle caps than the one's I had. A quick trip to the home brew shop and a few dollars later fixed the problem and I am now in posession of a larger cap puncher and larger caps. Champagne bottles are the bottle of choice for mine as the number of recycled bottles with a lip is limited. This suites me fine as they are a really appealing bottle. Can't wait to get the keg which is on layby as scavenging through bins at the tip takes a certain amount of inner belief in the cause. In the last week I have helped myself to 70 champagne bottles. Onced cleaned and steralised, the process becomes rewarding. Next stage once the blueberry beer is in bottles, is to make a fruit Champagne. The driving force in my endevour is the thought that come christmas I'll have a relatively cheap gift for my friends and family and a preservative free piss up.

Day one of brewing

Righto, today 29/10/10 was the first day of what will hopefully be a successful and lifelong affair with the art of brewing beer. Stage one, buy equipment and read basic instructions complete. Having taken note of important points, i have emptied the contents of said brew ingredients and added my own creative touch. One raspberry filled stocking immersed in the liquid before i emptied 7g of yeast and sealed the drum, should enable a good talking point for any aficionados lucky enough to partake in the spoils. The next stage of the process has a bath mat wrapped around my drum which sits alongside the hot water cylinder. Provided the temperature doesn't plummet to below 10 degrees, (this is Tassie after all) the fermentation process should roll along nicely. Need to check up on the brew in 2 days and top up the liquid with cold water. Fingers crossed this works because Christmas is in 2 months and the festivities will not be the same without it. The next big step, provided this works out for me, is to pay off the keg, tap and pipes so i can do away with the bottling process. At $450 bucks it's not cheap but worthwhile, and when there is two different beers in two separate kegs then  i reserve the right to be known as sensai. Speaking of sensai, i must try and brew some Japanese beer, after all they do a mean brew.